Stevens Archives - Castle Point Rocketry

News

Paying It Forward

September 11, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

Over the last year, Castle Point Rocketry has learned a lot. We built a rocket, created a company, and maintained a brand — all while keeping afloat in school. Now, it’s time to look to the future.

The eight founders of Castle Point Rocketry have graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology, but the relationship is far from over. This year, Castle Point Rocketry is sponsoring three more year-long senior design groups at Stevens. They will each work on a small section of the rocket, iterating on the current design to make a better vehicle overall. The goal is still the same: To create and launch a liquid-fueled rocket to the Karman Line.

We look forward to what this partnership holds in store. The mere fact that the project has generated interest in Stevens graduates-to-be is promising in and of itself!

News

Testing Review

July 18, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

[This is a long article, but it has some very important updates.]

Over the last ten days, Castle Point Rocketry tested our proof-of-concept rocket. We traveled from HQ in Hoboken to our test site in southern New Jersey on July 9th and returned on the 18th.

Here’s what you need to know.

Setup

The preliminary phases of our testing schedule took longer than anticipated. Though this was the team’s third visit to the site, more infrastructure needed to be laid out. We ordered chemicals, installed the truss, and established ground control. We spent Wednesday through Saturday making sure everything was perfect.

Tank Testing

As mentioned in Ready to Test, validating the liquid oxygen (LOX) tank was the first step of our testing procedure. Infinite Composites Technologies manufactured our LOX tank, and they asked that we do preliminary tests for them.

On Sunday, July 14, an advisor approved us to start testing.

Time lapse footage of our LOX tank going up.

TT.01: COPV Cryogen Validation

Composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPV) such as our LOX tank have been proven capable of withstanding high pressures. COPVs provide a burgeoning market for lightweight tanks by eliminating the need of an internal metal liner. The manufacturer expected that their formula would withstand low temperatures, too. But putting both together… That was our job.

After retreating 100 meters to Ground Control, we opened valves in a unique sequence to begin the test. First, cryogenic liquid nitrogen (LN2) filled the tank 4/5 full. Then we squeezed pressurized gaseous nitrogen (GN2) into the space that remained, elevating the tank pressure to 500 psi. (Air pressure at sea level is ~15 psi.)

From our perch in Ground Control, we couldn’t see exactly what was happening. But we had an array of sensors and cameras on-site that processed live data back to us.

The team watches the LOX tank closely… from afar.

The LN2 in the tank caused a thin layer of water to condense — and then freeze — on the tank. This temporarily turned the tank from black to a cloudy white, then back to black when the ice melted.

After holding for several minutes with no drop in pressure, the team agreed there were no leaks present. Ben actuated the dump valve, releasing the remaining LN2 in a plume of white steam, and we approached the tank to inspect the tank. No cracks, vents, peeling, or patching were found. We concluded that the Infinite tank could withstand cryogenic temperatures at high pressures.

TT.02: COPV LOX Compatibility Validation

TT.01 took less time than expected. On the order of hours. We planned the day with 4 hours for each test, yet TT.01 only took 34 minutes from start to finish. Too easy. Upon consensus from Nathan (Team Lead), Monica (Safety Officer), and Luke (Industry Advisor), we moved swiftly into TT.02.

Following TT.01, there wasn’t much to do in terms of preparing for the next test. After all, we simply needed to swap out an LN2 cylinder (called a dewar) for a LOX dewar. This required new hoses, too, but we came prepared. Within 30 minutes, we were back at Ground Control.

A screenshot from the program recording our incoming camera feeds. CCW from top: Infrared thermal imaging, test site visual, and dump valve close-up.

We took our time with this test. Though LOX boils at a slightly higher temperature than LN2 (-297°F instead of -320°F), it is much more dangerous. When LN2 boils off, it creates GN2. GN2 makes up 70% of the air we breathe — it is stable, is non-reactive, and plays well with others. LOX, however, boils off into gaseous oxygen (GOX). GOX is incredibly reactive, as oxygen is the driving force of any combustion reaction. With the slightest disturbance, a thimbleful of LOX can create a dazzling explosion. Should either GOX or LOX chemically react with the experimental COPV, a hole would release all oxygen at once, providing the basis for a massive fireball.

Luckily, we did not deal with any such eruption. Though the tank off-gassed a lot more than expected, much more than the LN2 run, we rang in yet another success. A holding time of 10 minutes proved our tank held an adequate amount of LOX to launch with.

TT.03: COPV Pressurize LOX Validation

Though we took our sweet time to make sure all of the GOX had adequately diffused before we drove the van up, we still had a remarkable amount of time left in the day. “Why not do another test?” we thought.

This test required LOX again. Under pressure, this time. We took a collective breath and pushed “Start.”

Once again, we were surprised by the amount of gas released from the system, but we assured ourselves it was nothing to worry about. The pressure did stay constant at ~300 psi for the full test, which indicated we didn’t have a leak.

Full Stack Testing

Following our three successful Tank Tests, we went into overhaul mode. Full Stack Testing required removing the LOX tank from the gantry hoist, placing it back in the rocket, and raising the rocket on the truss. Additionally, we needed to move our ground support relay boxes and fire extinguishers. (These relay boxes are like runners in a relay race. They act as a hand-off of information between Ground Control and the valves and sensors.) This change took the team a full day to complete.

FST.01: Full Stack Pressurization Test

Now comes the part of our story that gets a little bit… sad. On Tuesday, July 16th, we launched into FST.01 with great expectations. But the pressure just wouldn’t build. FST.01 only required the use of GN2. Since GN2 is practically harmless, Luke approved us to stay on-site with the rocket until we reached a pressure of 100psi. But even with our gas cylinders all the way open, we simply couldn’t get above 25psi.

Monica, Will, and Luke descended upon the LOX tank, assuming it (or one of its fittings) was the culprit. After a lengthy, methodical search, they found the problem: A hairline crack had formed on the very bottom of the tank. This was a deal-breaker.

Here’s the deal with cracks: They aren’t good for structural stability. Even at pressures as low as 25 psi, the crack was undoubtedly growing. Undetectably slowly, maybe, but definitely growing as GN2 tried to force its way from high to low pressure. Had we increased the system pressure any more, this effect would have increased dramatically — ending in a catastrophic burst as all of the GN2 left at once.

A tank exploding onboard the rocket was not what we wanted — so we unfortunately had to call off the rest of our testing schedule.

Moving Forward

So, what happens now?

After careful consideration of the data, the team concluded that the hairline fracture had occurred from “temperature cycling” the COPV. The tank went through a series of contractions and expansions as it got subcooled then superheated, which delaminated the layers of the COPV. In much the same way that ruffling a phone book puffs it up, this had introduced space between the “pages” of the tank wall, eventually leading to a full crack.

So, Castle Point Rocketry is still in our Testing Phase. Though we weren’t able to get through all five Full Stack Tests this week, we will soon have another tank. In the meantime, though, it was nice enough just to raise a rocket in the air — depressurized, of course — and look at what we had built.

For ease of access to the internal components, we didn’t add the nose cone, fuselage (skin), or fins. In a launch scenario, the rocket would look different.

News

More New Lab Space!

July 2, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

Last week was a rather exciting time. Not only did we set up for testing, we moved our lab — twice. And all within four days.

Stevens is modernizing and expanding, so there are plenty of active construction sites around campus. You may remember that Castle Point Rocketry’s lab space in Griffith is right next to one. That’s why we had to move two months back. Early last week, we were notified of that construction zone needing to overtake our lab space for some finishing touches. We had to be out by Friday. So, we were offered another space in the basement of the Burchard Building.

The old machine shop in the basement of Burchard, after the first round of cleaning.

We went to look at the space. 200 extra square feet made the move enticing, but there was a lot of work that needed to be done. The school’s machine shop occupied this space for many years, so there were rust marks, flaky paint, and a fine layer of metal dust on every surface.

The team spent three nights up until 2:00am refinishing the room. We washed the walls. The floors were swept, vacuumed, rinsed, scrubbed, revacuumed, and squeegeed. We brought tables up and wrapped compressed air hoses up into the ceiling. Finally, it looked appropriate for our use.

Almost done cleaning — and our clean room up in the back.

The final play before moving all of our tools and rocket parts up was to set up the clean room. After all, bringing clean parts up from Griffith just to lay them on the floor of an old machine shop isn’t the best plan. Thursday night found Nathan and Dakota laying thick plastic siding and flooring, with Will and Tom adding a vestibule. We called it a night and headed out.

Friday morning, we visited another construction site — the one just outside Burchard. We wanted to use the rental truck to move our lab up all in one go, but needed permission first. In a whirlwind couple of hours, we found out that room was already promised to someone else… So our clean room was torn down, the tables were removed, and we skedaddled back down to Griffith.

And here we’ll stay for at least two more weeks. Sure, the excitement of new lab space was fleeting, but we won’t complain. No one can, with this view!

Home sweet home. Great for getting those creative juices flowing.

News

On the Road

July 2, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

Castle Point Rocketry took its first official road trip. Destination: South Jersey.

The team packed up some supplies and drove to our proposed test site in southern New Jersey. Our goal was to survey the land, set up our test apparatus, and make sure our testing plan is viable. It only took us 27 hours, round-trip!

Our truck pulling out of campus — laden with test setup materials.

By far, the most difficult part of the journey was getting out of Hoboken. After the initial burden of getting through NYC metro traffic, though, the going was easy. Will, Nathan, Monica, Rodrigo, Dakota, and Tom made the 2.5-hour trek to our testing site and spent the night. Then, a full day in the sun lay ahead of us!

(Quick recap: The duckbill earth anchors keep everything on the ground so that we can measure thrust while the rocket engine fires. The gantry hoist pulls the truss upright.) While Will and Rodrigo focused on the logistics of securing our duckbill earth anchors into the ground, Tom and Dakota refinished the gantry hoist. The entire apparatus (test stand, gantry hoist, and trusses) was then laid our for placement and inspection. Luckily, we passed our own muster.

L-R: Our rental truck, the gantry hoist, the test stand, the truss, and a (unused) backhoe.

We were displeased when the evening’s forecasted rain came three hours early. That’s three untapped hours of perfectly good productivity! We securely wrapped all permanent features in tarps, then loaded up the truck before calling it a day.

Despite the early departure, we are happy with the day’s events. Among other things, we verified the land will suit our full stack testing and confirmed that our duckbill anchors need no doctoring for added support. And, just like that, the road trip was over. We skedaddled back to our Hoboken HQ to unpack and prepare for another full week of rocket science.

News

Dry Run Testing

June 19, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

[This is a long article. If you’d like to see just pictures and videos of our tests, check out our YouTube and Facebook pages!]

Last week, Castle Point Rocketry had two full days of testing. We verified our mechanical and avionics systems to ensure full preparation for the next round of testing: propulsion. In propulsion testing, we will light the rocket and measure the thrust it produces. It was necessary, then, that we check to make sure the test apparatus works (and can support the weight of the rocket) beforehand.

At the end of the second day, we had a fake rocket towering into the night sky.

It took all of both days, but the test was a success. We strapped a 500-pound surrogate rocket to the test stand and raised it from horizontal to vertical. In the dark!

Day One: Wednesday

We started the day by needing a U-Haul. Our lab in Griffith isn’t too far from Walker Lawn, where we were testing, but hauling a literal ton of metal up the hill sounded … none too fun. Luckily, we had some lifting help from Stevens Physical Plant and some traffic direction by Stevens Police.

Officer Gamez of the SPD posing with the team after helping us back in.

Avionics

The big focus of Day One was making sure all of our Avionics and Ground Control systems worked. To do so, we needed to take over a classroom, too. Ben found an empty room not too far away, overlooking the mechanical proceedings on Walker Lawn. Our ground control station was set up, and the wires started running!

All the wires serve three purposes: valve actuation, transducer reading, and real-time image processing. So far, the project has grown to incorporate 27 instruments. Eight of these require active actuation, and six send signals to ground control.

After double-checking that the radios worked (another important electronics test), Ben and Faris actuated each valve in the order that they will be used in testing. Though we didn’t have any temperature and pressure sensors set up, Ben also made sure the sensor code was running. Finally, we set up each of our three cameras — one real-time, one slo-mo, and one thermal — and they each came up on-screen!

Avionics Dry Run Testing: Successful.

Mechanical

Mechanical systems were being assembled throughout the avionics tests. All hands were on deck to set up the gantry hoist, test stand, and aluminum truss.

Rodrigo, Will, and Abe working on the test stand.
Will climbing the gantry hoist to adjust the winch.

These three metal structures will serve as the backbone for our propulsion testing. To restrict movement under fire, the rocket will be bolted to the 30-foot-long aluminum truss. (And tied down, twice-over.) In turn, the truss is bolted onto a short steel structure called the “test stand.” It sinks into the ground to provide added stability. In order to raise the truss, several cables run to another nearby steel structure: the “gantry hoist.” Equipped with a heavy-duty winch, it pulls the truss and rocket into place atop the test stand.

This process of raising the truss is what we tested. After a few preliminary tests and some iterative construction:

Checking calculations with a third of the truss section.
Supporting the whole truss before it goes up.

Some small edits to the gantry hoist before another pre-test. (Video has no sound.)

It went all the way up!

(Pardon Dakota’s yelling.)

By the time it came back down, it was nearing dark and threatening to rain. So we packed up and vowed to raise a weighted truss another day!

Day Two: Friday

It rained all day Thursday. Bummer. Luckily, we had the lawn reserved Friday, too. So we got back out there at 9:00am and went to work!

Step One: Check Everything

Even though everything had been set up on Wednesday, we needed to make sure everything was ship-shape. Even the slightest wiggle room on a bolt could send the whole thing crashing down. Not optimal.

Deputy Chief DiGenova of the SPD making sure our Test Stand was in peak shape.
Making sure the gantry hoist’s support cables were taut before testing.

Once happy, we jumped ahead to where we left off: Adding weight to the rocket. Our first subject? Our very own Abraham Edens.

Step Two: A Small Amount of Weight

It didn’t take much coaxing before Abe was hanging upside down. Who doesn’t want to say they’ve hung like a koala from a truss and elevated eight feet in the air?

Abe being raised to Height #1 for the first time.

To check all of our structural components, the truss first took Abe up to about six feet, then up to eight. Twice. (You can see more in the time lapse video below.) After Abe had had his fill, we gave Tom a go as well.

But all this wasn’t just eight college kids goofing off with a 30-foot truss. There was actual science behind it. Before loading up our testing equipment with 500 pounds of wood and concrete, we wanted to be sure that it could repeatedly lift human-sized cargo. And it’s a good thing we tested it out first. We were successfully able to raise both people, but the winch slowed down to a snails pace. This indicated we would need more powerful equipment for the full rocket.

Time lapse footage of both of Abe’s adventures up the truss. (Video has no sound.)

Step Three: Time to Buy Some Stuff

We took a lunch break. After all that heavy lifting (and being lifted), it was time to eat some food. We also took the chance to buy a heavy-duty winch — then the car battery to operate it.

Will and Nathan got to work installing the new winch atop our gantry hoist. Once it was up, we were all ready to go.

Step Four: Fake Rocket, Real Results

500 pounds of concrete is heavy. Our 2-ton pneumatic engine hoist was busy elevating the aluminum truss, so we lifted and moved the fake rocket by hand. Talk about a workout. Coupling the surrogate rocket to the truss required moving it ten feet to the west, then elevating it while another team member temporarily secured it with ratchet straps. Then, three linear rails permanently mounted the rocket to the truss.

But after all that grunting and sweating? We got to stand back and watch this:

Pardon the abrupt switch from landscape to portrait. (Video has no sound.)

So, there we were. Eight rocket engineers standing out on Walker Lawn at 11:45pm on a Friday night. Covered in mosquito bites, still sore from lifting a fake rocket, and getting kinda hungry again. But in front of us was solid proof that our testing structures would support the weight of our rocket.

Gazing up at the fruits of our labors at 11:45 Friday night.

In fact, the fake rocket we lifted weighs more than the rocket parts we will use in testing. The dummy rocket’s 500 pounds accounts for the weight of the entire rocket — when, in testing, we won’t be adding the fins, nose cone, or fuselage. So, really, we have a built-in Factor of Safety greater than 1.0!

Step Five: Teardown

As much as we all could have stood there for hours just gazing up at it, we took it down in a hurry. After all, it was nearing midnight and all of us were tired from two long days of testing. We packed up the U-Haul with all of our materials, leaving behind only the test stand, rocket, truss, and pneumatic hoist for Saturday morning.

Though it looks like someone landed a plane on Walker Lawn, this is what our testing apparatus looks like all wrapped up!

We found out it took even more work to take the rocket off the truss than it took to get it on. So the remaining construction was wrapped in a tarp, and we finished taking it apart the next day. And just like that? We called it a successful Dry Run Test.

News

Preventing Meltdown

June 4, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

One of the concerns with an active rocket engine is what comes out the hot end. Particularly, how hot the flame is that comes out and what we have built to stand in its way. Currently, the team has designed testing and launch stands that minimize the infrastructure that the flame could reach. Just in case, though, we want a backup plan.

That backup plan comes in the form of a metal shroud — hand bent by the team — which fits the form of the stand. And just in case a sheet of aluminum alloy wasn’t good enough, we coated it in a layer of intumescent caulk.

The caulk provides the red, tacky texture seen here.

“Intumescent” refers to a material’s ability to grow when an external force is applied. The caulk that we bought chemically breaks down and grows in volume when a flame is directed at it. The resultant polymer/carbon mass provides additional thermal insulation to the structure beneath it.

Testing Theory

In order to prove that it works — and decide how thick we needed to apply it — we ran some tests. The first round, we tested six different caulk thicknesses for a set period of time. The second round focused on the two best candidate thicknesses at various flame angles.

To judge which test worked best, the temperature on both sides of the test strip were taken every 5 seconds. An infrared thermometer gauged the temperature on the back; a thermal camera estimated the front.

The Outcome

We got a definitive answer from the test: Coat the stand shroud with 1/8″ of caulk. This thickness performed the best at all angles we tried — and leaves us more than enough caulk to coat two more shrouds, if we need to.

The caulk certainly did its job. The photos above show what happened to uncoated versus coated aluminum alloy sheets after a minute of direct flame. The uncoated sheet… melted. The coated sheet remained rigid — and sprouted a dense forest of curly, black char.

The intumescent caulk expanded by a factor of 4.25.

The 0.1″ caulk thickness provided optimal thermal resistance. Directing the blow torch at the center of the sheet raised the back temperature only 6°C — not nearly enough to melt any metal we’re using.

So yeah. We feel pretty comfortable covering our test stand shroud. One step closer to testing…

News

New Lab Space

May 30, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

For the last year, Castle Point Rocketry has practically worked out of whatever space is available. When we first drafted our Initial Proposal in May 2018, we practically lived out of a design loft for three days straight. As the reports got longer, parts started coming in, and a rocket took shape, though, we needed more sophisticated options.

Until a few weeks ago, our working situation was fairly spread out. Half of our time was spent in a windowless, cubbyhole office on the fourth floor of the Edwin A. Stevens building, barely big enough for the eight of us. The other half was spent on the design floor of the Griffith Building, the closest Stevens had to a fully-functional maker space. (And also home to Physical Plant.) Then, we got news that they were remodeling Griffith — starting with where we did the most of our rocket construction.

A new concrete lab being constructed where our clean room once was.

In a frenzied two days, all hands were on deck to rearrange our materials, our work, and our lives. Our EAS cache was moved down to Griffith, then everything was moved to fit in one of two places: Our parking lot shipping container or our new work space. Moving everything from the Griffith design floor to the smaller room in back was… more time-consuming than you may think.

Our new workspace, in the back of the Griffith Building.

The new space we occupy is just big enough for out needs. It’s also slated for renovation — luckily after we finish, though. In the picture above, you can see our whole layout. We have an 8-person table, access to the outdoors (!), a corridor for electronics, and our clean room. Inside the clean room, you can see the outline of our rocket taking shape.

In addition to our team, Stevens Solar Splash got displaced. Our teams share this new space, so there are times when we have thirteen bodies, a rocket, and a boat all crammed into this room. It’s a tight fit, but we make it work — amicably, too!

Out back of our new lab, we have a stunning NYC skyline layered behind more concrete lab material. This breathtaking backdrop has served as motivation and invitation, both. Looking up from a challenging design problem to see the city is certainly refreshing! Additionally, we have had the pleasure of hosting many stakeholders (administration and sponsors alike) in our new space. Most recently, Castle Point Rocketry has welcomed President Nariman Farvardin, Dean Jean Zu, Laura Overdeck, and Chris Daggett for a quick tour.

Uncategorized

CPR Ties for First Place!

May 15, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

You may recall Technogenesis. Colloquially called “TG,” it’s the entrepreneurship analog course to Senior Design. TG is designed to teach every team the metrics of making a business out of our projects. Most importantly, it teaches everyone the impact of a good pitch.

The culmination of the Stevens Innovation Expo is the elevator pitch competition — recently rebranded as the Ansary Entrepreneurship Competition. Ten teams compete for $17,500 in prize money. And we tied for first!

The team with our comically large check. We tied for first place!

The Ansary Entrepreneurship Competition is the final round in a series of judged pitches. The quarterfinals are a combination of two votes. First, all teams present in class to a panel of TG professors. Then, the public votes on each team’s pitch video on YouTube.

Castle Point Rocketry’s official TG video.

Castle Point Rocketry passed the quarterfinals on the public vote. Two weeks later, we also passed the semifinals, which left us with about a week to prepare for the Ansary Entrepreneurship Competition. Faris, our resident Pitch Master, worked overtime to make sure the pitch was the best it could be.

We were pretty happy with how he sounded — and apparently the judges were, too! The rest of the team joined Faris on stage after his pitch to answer any questions, of which there were only two. After the other nine teams pitched, they announced the co-winners: LifeSkills Software and Castle Point Rocketry! Castle Point Rocketry also won the “Audience Choice” award.

Our teams are are splitting the $15,000 reserved for the first- and second place teams. (They weren’t expecting a tie!) Castle Point Rocketry’s $7,500 will cover our transportation to and from the launch site. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!

Uncategorized

What’s the big deal about the Karman Line, again?

May 7, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

We do a lot of talk about “space” and the “Karman Line” in our social media and these blogs. But what does that mean? What’s the big deal?

Space is a vacuum. It’s the area above our planet’s atmosphere where there is nothing — so it’s all of the nothingness between our planet and all of the other celestial bodies. (Venus, the Sun, the asteroids, and black holes all included.)

Our solar system. Space extends much beyond this, though.

The Earth’s atmosphere isn’t pure. At various places around the globe, you can find various concentrations of essential gasses in the air. (Nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide are the key players.) However, the atmosphere also changes as you travel upwards. You know when flight attendants give that speech about air masks? That’s because the air at 33,000 feet is much thinner than at sea level — the atmosphere is less dense.

A prominent Hungarian-born aerospace engineer, Theodore von Kármán, spent much of his life studying jet engines at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He noticed that engine efficiency decreases alongside air density. At a certain point (100 km above sea level, about 62 miles), the atmosphere becomes so thin that engines simply don’t work any more.

That is the Karman Line.

A cartoon of the various sections of the Earth’s atmosphere. The Karman Line is highlighted in red.

So why does Castle Point Rocketry want to get there? Well, there’s a bit of an unofficial space race happening between colleges, at the moment. Space Enterprise at UC Berkeley has released a challenge to all other colleges: Who can get to the Karman Line (and therefore space) first?

So far, the record is held by University of Southern California — 44 km. Just under half the way there. Other key contenders are Boston University, UC San Diego, Delft University of Technology, and our very own neighbors, Princeton University.

So, Castle Point Rocketry is here to settle it. Who will be the first into space? Stevens Institute of Technology, obviously.

Uncategorized

Innovation Expo 2019

May 5, 2019June 5, 2020
by Dakota

This past Friday, May 3, 2019, marked the annual Stevens Institute of Technology Innovation Expo. 189 senior projects were presented by individuals and teams from all four schools at Stevens: the College of Arts and Letters, the School of Business, the School of Systems and Enterprises, and the School of Engineering and Science.

Even Stevens’ mascot, Attila, dropped by!

Castle Point Rocketry occupied a series of tables in the Griffith Building, located beneath campus on the Hudson River. Alongside many other building-intensive teams, we presented our project to students, professors, Hoboken residents, and potential investors alike.

We brought out all of our toys for show and tell.

From 10:30am to 3:00pm, members of our team rotated through presenting at the table. Notable visitors included Attila the Duck (Stevens’s mascot), Dr. Nariman Farvardin (President of Stevens), Graham Boyd (our Regional Manager for SLM Solutions), and Bob Freno (Principal Member of Engineering Staff at L3 Technologies).